With the release of Street Fighter IV, fighting games have received a boom in popularity equal to, if not one surpassing that of the days where we had arcade machines all queued up in 7-Elevens. For Street Fighter IV alone, Capcom has reached their third revision with Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. Without a doubt, tournament players and diehard Street Fighter players will be picking it up, but the same question that haunted everyone’s minds in the ‘90s still plagues gamers today. Was this game necessary?

Having been a couple of years since I’ve last played a Dead or Alive game, I was interested to see how far the series has come along. Transitioning from the childhood mindset of enjoying gravity-defying bosoms on the Playstation 2 to looking at Dead or Alive from a seasoned, competitive standpoint was definitely a change. That said, it’s time to see if the series has evolved into a legit fighter, able to step into the ring with the likes of Tekken and StreetFighter, or if it still only provides eye candy for those too young to buy an M-rated game.

Definitely one of the most awaited releases for long time fighting game fans, Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online will feature many improvements such as graphical filters, GGPO netcode, YouTube integration, and a challenge mode that impress players with trails in both parrying skills and combos. While not busy wrecking people in tournaments as Goryus, Producer Derek Neal is hard at work on Third Strike Online and he took some free time to answer a couple of Quick Questions for us.

Fighting games take all forms and certainly have given us some of the most memorable casts in history. You’d be hard pressed to find a gamer who doesn’t recognize Ryu’s waving headband or Guile’s gravity-defying hair. Arcana Heart 3‘s roster is memorable for a different reason; it’s devoid of any males. However, this is no one-trick pony. Arcana Heart 3‘s systems are complex enough that fighting game aficionados will have to take notice.